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Further Reading

At some point in their development, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were supposed to ship with sapphire-coated screens. Sapphire, which already protects iDevices' camera lenses and TouchID buttons, is even more scratch- and shatter-proof than hardened glass. But alas, it was not to be—Apple signed a contract with a company called GT Advanced Technologies to provide that sapphire, and that contract infamously fell through (not before both companies' dirty laundry was aired out in public).

That left Apple with a big, renovated factory in Mesa, Arizona that wouldn't be used for anything after GT Advanced moves out in December 2015. Bloombergreports that rather than letting the plant sit or selling it (or falling through on its promise to bring jobs to the area), Apple will spend another $2 billion to convert it into a data center. And not just any data center—the company says it "will serve as a command center for our global networks."

"This multibillion-dollar project is one of the largest investments we've ever made," said Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet. According to the Bloomberg report, once completed, the data center "will employ 150 full-time Apple employees and will create 300 to 500 construction and trade jobs."

The unanswered question is what this means for Apple's sapphire plans. Camera lenses, TouchID buttons, and certain Apple Watch models will all use sapphire glass, but these pieces are all much smaller (and easier to produce) than slabs large enough to protect 4.7- or 5.5-inch iPhones. The company may have given up on sapphire-screened iPhones, or it may simply be working with other suppliers behind the scenes for some future phone. We'll keep our ears to the ground.

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Andrew Cunningham
Andrew wrote and edited tech news and reviews at Ars Technica from 2012 to 2017, where he still occasionally freelances; he is currently a lead editor at Wirecutter. He also records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites